


Happiness is a Journey Best Shared

by n7chelle



Series: A Herd of Black Sheep [9]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Badass moms in general, Brief Bianca Davri, Childhood Memories, Cole (Dragon Age) Being Cole, Dancing Lessons, Drabble Collection, Epilogue, F/M, Fifth Blight (Dragon Age), M/M, Mabari Puppies, Morning After, Morrigan is a good mom, Original Character(s), POV Morrigan (Dragon Age), Pre-Dragon Age: Inquisition Quest - Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-14
Updated: 2020-09-19
Packaged: 2021-02-27 05:22:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 1,201
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22251778
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/n7chelle/pseuds/n7chelle
Summary: Drabbles for the Herd of Black Sheep series, featuring Athena Trevelyan and the gang. I posted myInquisitor Lavellan drabblesand Athena demanded I show hers some love too! (Even though she's already gotten so much more attention... 😅)Again, inspired by prompts from a certain awesome writers' group. 💖
Relationships: Cullen Rutherford/Female Trevelyan, Female Inquisitor/Cullen Rutherford, Varric Tethras/Male Trevelyan, Varric Tethras/Original Male Character(s)
Series: A Herd of Black Sheep [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1134020
Comments: 4
Kudos: 9





	1. Morning After

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: a moment of wonder

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> prompt: a moment of wonder

Varric wakes in the early hours of morning. 

Theo's tucked himself into Varric's shoulder, arm over his waist, long legs curled up as though he can make himself small in their shared bed. Varric's own arm is numb beneath Theo's weight. 

It's been a long time since Varric slept next to someone who was still there in the morning. He doesn't move. Just listens to Theo's quiet breathing. Studies his eyelashes, copper against pale, freckled skin. Tries to name the warm feeling spreading out from his chest. 

_Oh_. This is what it's like to wake up with someone he loves.


	2. First Snow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> prompt: first snowfall

Milo squirms in her arms, fussy from being bundled up in so many layers. He squirms harder when they get outside, as much from the sudden burst of cold as from the sight of his father, and then his eyes go wide and luminous as he notices the world around him, transformed overnight. 

She sets Milo on his feet. He takes a single faltering step, and goes down face-first. His father gets to him first, hovering and fussing with worry, but Milo comes up laughing, delighted, kicking his legs in the soft powder, his cheeks and mouth caked in snow.


	3. Victory

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Blasted em dashes making me cheat at drabble word count again! >_>
> 
> prompt: family dinner

The long tables in the great hall are all but picked clean and abandoned. Only one still plays host to a raucous crowd of revelers, drunk on victory and good company. Conversation flows as freely as wine, the final battle behind them, conquered at last, and now recounted in joyous Fereldan, Antivan, Orlesian, even Nevarran and Qunlat. 

"Athena? Is everything alright?"

Cullen glances at her full plate, barely touched. Piled high with small bites. Easy to manage with only a fork in hand. 

She takes in her people—her family—alive and mostly whole after all they've faced. 

"Everything is just fine."


	4. Puppy Love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> prompt: baby animals

Three-month-old mabari are nothing but energy—scampering about the straw-filled barn, chasing scents and challenging each other to playful fights. All but one that is, who seems rather keen on her new friend instead. 

A few minutes of silent observation and Athena's decision is made. She slips away to make arrangements with Seanna. 

"It's settled," she says upon her return, sliding down into the straw at Cullen's side. "We're taking her home." 

"Milo's a bit young for a pup, isn't he?" 

"True." Athena fishes the end of her braid out of Milo's mouth. Again. "But she's not for Milo, love."


	5. Lessons

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> prompt: dancing

" _Right_ , two, three, _left_ , two, three, and _turn_ —eyes on your partner, Sergeant, not your boots. And stand up straight, for Maker's sake!" 

The instructor delivered the reminder with a sharp smack of her cane to Sgt. Perrin's lower back. A few paces away, Cullen and his partner, Sgt. Aster, both winced in sympathy. 

"I think Mistress Elizelle could give the Knight-Commander a run for her money," Aster muttered under her breath. Cullen silently agreed. Perrin's backside would probably be black and blue by the Champions' Ball in three weeks' time; the poor man had no talent for dancing.


	6. It's Complicated

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Theo meets Bianca.
> 
> prompt: jealousy

If love is a salve that can mend a man's hurts, jealousy is the jagged tool that rips them open again. 

Theo is still nursing the sting of Varric's awkward not-quite-rejection when Athena comes to him with a mission: red lyrium in the Deep Roads, a possible supply line to Corypheus and his corrupted Templar army. 

It only takes a few words for Theo to put the pieces together. The way Varric's name rolls off her lips—entreating, expectant, and dismissive all at once—speaks of a shared history that far predates the Inquisition. 

Bianca Davri is Varric's _it's complicated._


	7. It Might As Well Be Spring

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Athena had a very serious (and ill-fated) crush on Theo when they were younger.
> 
> prompt: spring

_ “Whadyou mean we can’t get married?!”  _ Athena wails. “I-is it because I ain’t a Marcher? Or, or a noble? Did Eli already pick s-somebody else for you?” She hangs on Theo’s arm, distraught as only a young girl in love can be, and making a very conspicuous scene in their out-of-the-way corner. 

Resplendent in springtime hues of pink and yellow and green, guests waltz about Trevelyan Manor’s spacious ballroom unbothered. But the nearest group of adults casts disapproving looks in Athena’s direction. 

At eleven and thirteen, it’s their first Wintersend Ball together, and this isn’t how Theo saw it going. 


	8. Sleight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What's more satisfying than a perfectly executed hustle? Watching the hustler get beat at their own game.
> 
> Prompt: a spinning coin

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cross-posted to Roiya Lavellan's drabble collection [Where Pride Goeth](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22233706/chapters/53089132) because I couldn't decide which timeline this happened in. Cole is a sweetheart in any universe! ❤️

"Why was he angry with me?"

You weren't supposed to beat his game," Varric explained, guiding a very perplexed Cole through the busy marketplace. 

"But he asked me to find the coin." A frown tugged at the corners of Cole's mouth. 

"Sure, but ten times in a row was a bit much," Varric laughed. "The look on that poor man's face!" It never got old, seeing a street hustler outplayed by someone who looked like the easiest mark in the world. "Don't feel too bad for him, kid. You frustrated him so much he forgot to steal your coin purse."


	9. Excellent Taste

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another [crosspost](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22233706/chapters/62229523), because I have a soft spot for Morrigan secretly being a great mom to Kieran in every universe.
> 
> Prompt: a dull shine  
> Also shout out to [zinjadu](https://archiveofourown.org/users/zinjadu/pseuds/zinjadu%22) for bringing to my attention the very important fact that Kieran canonically chose Morrigan's WEWH dress.

"Absolutely not," Morrigan declares. 

Blue is not her color. 

The gown is flattering enough, but the shade is too soft and innocent. Not to mention the appalling number of ruffles. If she must attend this charade of a ball, she'll wear something that doesn't make her look like a powdered, pastel cream puff. 

"What about this one, mother?" Kieran says eagerly. 

He tugs on a skirt with a subtle silver pattern that reflects a bit of light. She's more interested in the bodice; dark leather, feather accents, and… Oh yes, a very nice choice indeed. 

Red is _definitely_ her color. 


	10. Watchdog

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A moment from Athena's escape from Ferelden, at the start of the Fifth Blight. 
> 
> Prompt: to sit still

Night had settled over the forest like a blanket. Athena crouched inside a hollowed-out tree, shivering under her mother's cloak. Kaddis, dog-smell, and her mother's perfume mingled with dead wood and dirt. 

Apollo went stock still against her side, a silent growl vibrating in his chest. His painted muzzle scented the air, and his sharp ears angled towards something she couldn't hear. 

Fear clenched in Athena's belly. If it was her mother returning, he wouldn't be on alert. 

Footsteps crunched loudly in the snow, too close to their hiding place…and then the stench of rotting flesh hit her nose. 


	11. Past Her Prime

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aftermath of the previous chapter. Releyna isn't as young as she used to be. 
> 
> (Lots of HC at play in the background here. TL;DR Athena's parents aren't Bann and Lady Trevelyan. Her mother is a mercenary based in Ferelden, and her father is the Bann's younger brother.) 
> 
> Prompt: overripe

Releyna pulled her sword free of the darkspawn's corpse with a grunt and a sickening squelch. 

"Mama?" Athena called, her voice wavering from inside the hollowed-out tree. 

"It's safe, Athena, you can come out now."

Apollo's nose emerged first, sniffing warily, and then the mabari crawled out into the open, followed by her daughter. Athena flung herself straight into Releyna's chest—which was heaving under her leather jerkin, heart pounding like she'd just sprinted the length of the Imperial Highway. 

Ten years ago she wouldn't've broken a sweat from skirmishing in knee-deep snow. She was getting too old for this.   



	12. Good Enough

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Romance isn't Varric's thing. At least, that's what he tells himself.
> 
> Prompt: a little secret

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I actually really like Bianca as a character! Varric just deserves better, alright.

Varric's relationship with Bianca has never quite been 'romantic'. If he wasn't so busy letting her pull him into bed without so much as a hello, he might realize they haven't had a conversation that wasn't an argument in years. Assassin's aren't exactly his idea of a fun morning after, either. 

Some people just aren't made for all that sappy drivel he crammed into _Swords and Shields._

But if seeing his friends happily married—or at least happily committed—sometimes makes him wonder what it might be like, to have something a little... _more_?

Well. No one has to know.


End file.
